A mobile voice communication system, such as a cellular telephone system, provides communication services to a subscriber. A typical cellular telephone system includes a collection of interconnected cell sites and mobile switching centers that perform call setup, processing, and hand-off techniques to provide uninterrupted voice service to the subscriber. A modicum of cooperation among cellular telephone systems provide a roaming capability where subscribers may receive voice services in a variety of cellular telephone systems that collectively form a cellular telephone network.
As a result, the cellular telephone network provides voice services to customers over a broad geographic area. Unfortunately, the cellular telephone network design and infrastructure primarily supports voice services, with little or no capabilities to communicate message data. Most of the data handled by the cellular telephone network relates to the operation of the cellular telephone network, such as information to provide cellular registrations, call processing, and hand-off procedures.
A few techniques attempt to provide data messaging in a cellular telephone network, but suffer from an overly complicated implementation or modification of cellular telephone infrastructure. Other techniques primarily support one-way communications, while still other techniques suffer from limited capacity or reduced geographic coverage.